Standing on her own two feet
by BrownieMonster
Summary: Bella gets mad when Edward leaves in New Moon and eventually can't stand all the reminders so picks up and moves to London, ending up in a bar downtown she made some friends who've turned her into a badass new woman working at the roughest bars around OOC
1. Chapter 1

**This is an idea that's been in my head for goodness so long and so I thought it was about time i put it down in writing. I don't know what you'll think of this but i had fun writing it when i was on holiday stuck in the car for the six hour drive to holland.**

**Anyways, so in my little story here, Edward left in New Moon and instead of falling into depression Bella got mad. Tired of constantly being reminded of him she picks up and moves to England where she makes some new friends and probably falls in with the wrong crowd depending on how you look at it, i quite like them really. A couple of years down the line her old friends came and joined her and together they found a job in a nightclub/bar type place. Definitely not regular Bella's cup of tea but this is new Bella, interesting Bella, Bella that won't be pushed over, Bella that's given herself the stagename Scarlett and reinvented herself with the help of Joe, her possibly gay, possibly straight new friend. Having stuck around in La Push long enough to learn how to ride a motorbike out in London she's bought herself a Harley and drives it like a Cullen. New piercings, a new tattoo and a whole new attitude this is a fun Bella... at least she was having fun until someone she thought she'd left behind shows up.**

**Okay, so i may have realised how that sounds slightly like a TV advert or something but ah well, enjoy!**

* * *

Gliding across the floor effortlessly balancing two trays packed full of glasses on one arm she couldn't have looked more out of place within the crowd of staggering drunks and heavily pierced and tattooed men if she'd tried. Sure, she was wearing the supplied uniform which enabled the rest of the staff fluidly blend with the mass of darkly clothed ruffians frequenting the bar but she just didn't for some implacable reason. The standard leather pants she was wearing were ripped across the knees, incidentally her leather jacket was looking a little worse for wear as well but she wasn't wearing it in the overheated bar. Instead the bar's logo was almost painfully obvious across the back of her tightly-fitted black t-shirt. The rest of the girls were wearing the t-shirts as well and each had a specifically coloured strip around the neckline and sleeves and each had their named printed below the logo on their back in the same colour. Her colour was blood red and when the light hit her from certain angles red showed in her hair and flashed through her eyes. Behind the counter the blues were tossing bottles through the air and other reds were dancing provocatively on the counter drawing almost the entire crowd to the edges of the bar.

Slamming down the counter as she slid back behind the bar passing the trays to a guy waiting in the doorway who then disappeared leaving the doors to swing back, rattling the 'staff only' sign on it's hook. Spinning on the heel of her boots she turned to face the customer calling her attention. Taking the note from him she pulled two bottles from the wall and kicked the radio switch under the character, changing the song as she threw the bottles to a blue who proceeded to mix the drink for the man as she jumped on to the counter with the rest of the reds. As she started to dance one of the other girls approached her and as they ground against each other they started to talk.

"Ruby" She drawled, drawing out the vowel sounds "When do you get off tonight?"

"Half an hour, what are you thinking of Scar?"

"I'm thinking I really feel like drinking tonight"  
"I like that p-" She was cut off by the music changing, thus signalling the arrival of the purples. As they filed off the counter the other girl leaned over to her ear.

"Violet's on tonight isn't she?"  
"Oh yeah, this should be fun then"

The purples, although not wearing a purple rimmed t-shirt were still called the purples as that was the lining on the standard jackets they had received. However, they were easily identified as the purples as they simply weren't wearing tops at all. The counter filled with girls in leather pants and lingerie, much to the cheers of the crowd. At this point a man's head poked out from the kitchen holding new bottles of certain alcohols and she slid over and took them from him, suddenly reminded that she was supposed to be working on restocking the bar. As the purples danced on the bar counter and with a few customers she busied herself refilling the drinks holders attached to the walls. She went through to the back rooms and emerged with her arms full of bottles yet again. Placing them down on a shelf behind the bar she wiped her brow and checked one of the three watches twisted up her arm. Glad to see there was only five minutes left of her shift; she replaced the rum containers before heading out back to grab her jacket, helmet and purse.

She was met outside by Scarlett and together they put on their helmets and fired up their bikes. She pulled out of the lot screaming down the streets, picking up speed as fast as she could. Swerving in and out of the light late evening traffic with a glance backwards to ensure that Scar was still behind her they veered off to the left and down several back alleys before pulling up outside a dark building with a fluorescent sign flashing on and off hanging over the doorway stating simply that it was a bar. Together they walked through the door and as the door slammed behind them most of the contents of the bar turned to look at them.

The lighting was dim with the only real light source being spotlights at the bar hanging precariously from their sockets in the ceiling. Bottles were lined up along shelves completely covering the wall behind the bar; they were arranged by coloured labels rather than by contents which meant interesting coloured contents where the lights were pointed directly at them. It seemed as though this was boldly stating that the bar was here to serve alcohol and do absolutely nothing else. There was an old radio behind the counter leaking old rock music in to the atmosphere. There were a few figures scattered along the seats at the bar and a few groups were seated in the shadows talking in hushed tones that seemed decidedly shady. There were a couple of girls sat on the bar singing along to a song and drinking something that looked dubious straight from the bottle and it was these two that they approached.

"Well well well, look what the cat dragged in"

"Friendly as always Sky"

"And don't you know it Scar!"

"Of course honey!" Sky waved the bottle as Scar who took it, held it up to the light, span it in her hands then placed it to her lips taking a large gulp. Not flinching she passed it on to Ruby, a devious smirk playing around her lips as she watched her friend take a swig, finally allowing herself a bark of laughter as Ruby started coughing and spluttering.

"Good stuff right Rubes?"

"I hate you"  
"No, you love me"

"Only if you're going to find us something drinkable" With a nod and a smirk she swaggered down to where a man was stood behind the counter. He was dressed in black jeans and an AC/DC concert shirt.

"Hey Joe"  
"Izzy, it's been too long" Leaning towards he they hugged and as they parted she hit him on the shoulder.

"You know that no one calls me that anymore"

"Yeah well as long as I'm the one mixing your drinks I get to call you Izzy and not this 'Scarlett' stage name business. Just as I get to call Ruby Jessica and Sky Angie"

"Oh whatever" She waved the topic away with a hand gesture. "Ruby wants something drinkable after nearly dying trying to drink your crazy ass rum"

"Hey, I like that stuff!"

"Apparently Sapphy does too" She said with a laugh, motioning down to where she was lying across the counter pouring the amber liquid into her mouth. "Talking of Sapphy are you two ever going to get it together as I'm getting sick of watching you eye-fuck her so often, in fact I'm starting to want to kill either myself or you"  
"I don't know, but soon probably if it'll keep me alive"

"I thank you greatly" She said slipping into a very posh accent, even more English than the one she had acquired having lived here in England for the last six years. "But you know, I would be even more grateful if you were to fetch me a bloody drink!"

"Eye eye cap'n" He replied, saluting before turning around and grabbing three bottles from the shelves and one from under the counter. As he span them whilst pouring them into a tall glass she smiled appreciatively as she saw the labels on the bottles. Plucking an umbrella from a rail above his head he presented the glass to her with a flourish.

"Ah, a black bass. You know, you made this for me on my first night in England"

"Yeah and you nearly choked to death just smelling it!"

"Well _sorry _but it was my first alcoholic drink and you chose to give me one that contains two types of rum both over 50% proof!"

"Well you were the one that came into my ramshackle old bar in your shirt and skirt; you really did look very lost." Before he could continue she interrupted.

"What, so you decided to get me very very drunk?"

"Well it did loosen you up a bit" She promptly hit his arm.

"Yeah, but I ended up telling you my entire life story"

"Which was very interesting I might add" He interrupted but she continued her rant regardless.

"I had you crush over my ex"

"I was not crushing!"  
"And I told no less than twenty total strangers they were gorgeous!"

"Well that _was _funny" He said laughing while she just glared at him. Taking a large sip of her drink she got up and walked over to the others, leaving Joe to laugh to himself.

"What did you get Scar?" Ruby asked as she approached but Scar just finished the glass in one and placed it back on the counter.

"Something you wouldn't have liked" She replied, poking her tongue out

"You're so immature"

"Ah, but you love me for it"

"Suuuuure, but I still need a drink!"

"Are you incapable of ordering one for yourself?"  
"No, but it's your turn"

"How about we get someone else to buy them?" She replied, trying to find a way out of paying again. It certainly wasn't that she couldn't but she didn't like spending her money if she could avoid it.

Ruby smirked at her then turned to scan the bar over. "Ooh, how about those guys" She said looking towards a group of tall dark skinned men all holding beers sat around a table in the back corner.  
"Eh, I don't think so" Scar replied, looking around the bar until her eyes came to rest on three tall guys all in leather jackets leaning on the bar. "How about them?"

"Nice pick" Ruby replied with a smirk. Scar headed across the floor swaying her hips while Ruby followed. As they got closer she could see that one had spiky blonde hair and brown eyes, one had brown shaggy hair and green eyes and one had floppy black hair and blue eyes. Ruby leaned towards her to whisper in her ear

"Shotgun the black hair"

"Honey, he's yours" She replied.

Sashaying up to the men she placed her hand on the guy with brown hair's arm and practically purred "Fancy buying us a drink?"

"Sure, what're you drinking?" Replied the same guy.  
"Guess"

"How about sambuca for you and vodka for your friend?"

"That sounds good" She purred again. As he turned to the bar she nodded at Joe who changed the song for her, as was routine when she was picking up a guy. He returned with the drink and she downed it in one then pulled on his hand.

"Dance with me?" It wasn't a question, it was a command and he was more than willing to comply. Slowly they swayed together and before long she was grinding against him and Ruby was doing the same with the black haired guy. As he leaned down for another kiss the doors swung open and the blast of air gave her goose bumps although it didn't feel like it was just from the cold. She turned to look and there in the doorway was a stunning blonde and a tiny black spiky haired woman who both looked far too familiar for comfort.

* * *

**I've done the writing now it's down to you to review!**

**How about an incentive?**

**Reviews get a sneak peak of the next chapter**


	2. Chapter 2

As she looked at them from the corner of her eye, having turned so her back was to them, she noticed quite how out of place they looked in their designer clothes, stood up straight and grimacing slightly at the atmosphere. She suddenly realised what she must have looked like when she turned up here and stifled a laugh, thank god for Joe. As she noticed them looking her way she stepped up the dancing and ignored them completely, making sure that all they could really see was the tattoo down her arm, the slogan across her back and the seven or so piercings down her left ear without showing her face.

Once their gaze left her she straightened, and as she did so she noted them walking towards the bar. Faking a shiver to the guy she was dancing with, she whispered to him that she would be right back and was just going to grab her jacket. Looking over at Ruby she couldn't help but smile at her once reserved friend was now letting loose with a guy she barely knew. As she walked past, Ruby caught her gaze and raised an eyebrow. Her reply was to brush imaginary lint off her shoulder to which Ruby nodded. It was a code they had come up with years back when trying to shout over any kind of music got too tiring. Brushing her shoulder was a simple way of saying there was someone here she was trying to avoid and as such would be leaving promptly.

Sneaking behind the bar, at the other end to that which the two women had approached, she grabbed her jacket, waved at Joe and then slipped through door to the storage room. A shape on the floor was clearly Sapphy and so she pulled a blanket from behind the door and covered her, what are friends for right? Shrugging her jacket on she slid through the back door and uncovered her stashed bike. Revving the engine noisily as she started the bike up, she logged that it could probably do with a little tuning, releasing the brake the bike snarled into movement and seconds later she was tearing down the back streets, a glance behind her was all she needed to know that she was being followed by someone, well some-**thing** technically.

Growling under her breath she pulled a few sharp turns and ended up on the main roads where she was fairly sure the stupid stalking vampires would have to find an alternative method of transport. The plan was not to be though, for as she pulled out onto the road it was completely devoid of all other living forms. Cursing loudly she swerved through the side roads to get to her apartment, a voice in her head claimed her subconscious mind into conversation

_Well well well, look at little Bella run_

**I'm not running, I just don't want to talk to the leeches that abandoned me**

_I don't know, seems an awful lot like running to me_

**Well I don't care what you think; you are just some stupid voice in my head**

And with that the voice went back away and her thought returned to an incomprehensible rage at them turning up when she was happy and settled in a job that they wouldn't approve of and would obviously pass their judgement on however little she cared what they thought. Pulling sharply into the entrance to an underground parking area, she braked only on reaching a space. Pulling her jacket off and jamming it into the space underneath the seat, she glanced behind her and could just about make out two figures approaching from the dark, glaring at them she locked the bike up and pulled her pass-card for the apartment complex out of her trouser pocket. Waving it at the door as she approached, it swung open and she proceeded to launch herself up the stairs as per usual. The sound of heels on the stairs behind her matched the rhythm of her own heels.

Slamming the door behind her as she reached the thirteenth floor, she proceeded to marched down the corridor. As she walked she tried to decide whether or not to let them come inside for the blow out she was sure was coming. If she let them in, there was no way they wouldn't find out about the fact that she was rooming with a werewolf well technically a child of the moon, whatever, but then if she confronted them in the corridor she might get kicked out of the building as she'd already had her final 'disturbing the peace' warning from her landlord. Coming to a compromise, she turned the key in the lock, stepped through the door and then turned back to face the stuff of nightmares.

Well the stuff of normal people's nightmares. These were vampires, bloodsuckers, leeches, parasites, sanguisuges, whatever. She'd faced worse. Glaring at them as they approached her from the stairwell, she finally acknowledged them. Alice's face read as an incomprehensible combination of wonder and fear and all sorts of emotions, Rosalie's face said nothing. She didn't feel she could hate Rosalie, after all, she'd never pretended to like her in the first place whereas with Alice, what she'd thought had been her best friend had just taken off without a word; it was a hurt that nothing would ever heal. Finally they were at a distance that she deemed close enough, adding extra venom to her voice she looked at them and finally broke the silence.

"What?" She spat at them. Alice's face crumpled slightly but she didn't feel sorry for her. "What the hell are you doing here?" She reiterated.

She was met with silence.

"Don't make me ask you again, what the fuck are you doing here?

"Bella, is that really you?"

"No shit Sherlock"

"What happened to you?"

"Oh I don't know, pretty much everyone I ever loved left me so I thought I'd try going somewhere I was no longer tainted by memories of them that made me want to beat the crap out of everything, but oh look, you're here now too, so I'm probably going to have to replace this bloody door now as I'll just want to punch it in every time I walk past it in the mornings"

"But Bella" Alice started but was interrupted

"Don't fucking call me that, I'm Scarlett now and unless you have something interesting to tell me I'd suggest you left" Alice decided to try again anyway, despite the glare she was receiving.

"I just can't believe you're alive, we all thought you were dead when I stopped having visions of you, that's why Edward..." but she interrupted,

"I don't fucking want to hear anything more about that bloodsucker and unless you want something very painful to happen to you, I would suggest you left immediately"

"But Bella, Edward..."

She slammed the door in their faces, turned the lock and sunk down against it, thankful that the door blocked out all sound. She could feel the vertically challenged leech pounding the door and then trying to pick the lock but with a werewolf mechanic in the same house, there was no way that the vampire could get through seven locks and a twelve inch thick titanium door. Of course, the reason that the door had been built like that was to stop vampires getting in but these weren't the ones it was intended for.

A few minutes later the light came on and a tall figure appeared in the doorway from what had been declared a bedroom. As her eyes focused she could make out the soft features and light tan colouring of her best friend, the one that wasn't Joe, for the last six years. The figure approached and seconds later she was in the air being carried towards a chair.

"Right Bells, I demand to know exactly what is going on" She had been placed in her chair by the window and now watched her friends figure pacing back and forth.

"What exactly do you want to know?"

"Start from the beginning, those are the bloodsucking leeches that left you aren't they" Her friend had witnessed countless breakdowns and knew as good as first hand all the pain she had been through. Bella looked up at her friends face and was shocked to see the impassive face that was only normally visible on her face when she was about to change because of sheer rage rather than the moon.

"Al, no Al, calm down honey"

"Jesus Christ Bells, you're protecting them?!?" This wasn't good, more anger was not good, Bella was too close, Al was too angry.

"No, but please remember last time, remember that accident"  
"This time it wouldn't exactly be an accident" Something terrifying filled her face and not even a second later the door was open and she was leaving the room

"Al!!!!"


	3. Chapter 3

At Bella's shout Al turned around, something about the panicked sound caught her attention and in the split second that she paused the leeches were out of the building and any chance of catching them was minimal. Bella returned to her seat and a few seconds later Al returned to the room.

"Go take a shower and calm down you crazy bitch"

"Thanks Bells, love you too"

"Yeah, I know you do" She replied, sticking her tongue out. She watched as her friend sauntered off to the bathroom, completely calm despite having been ready to kill seconds earlier. Rather than relaxing into her chair, like she would normally have done, she pulled off her worn leather boots and turned to the kitchen.

Pulling bottles down out of the cupboards, appropriately labelled poison cupboards, she had just grabbed the mixer as the doorbell rang. A look of confusion passed over her face and she cursed under her breath, hoping that it wasn't the landlord. Approaching the door, bottle of vodka still clutched in her hand, she shouted out a hello. The voice that replied was a deep masculine one she didn't recognize.

"Hi, I was just checking everything was okay, I heard shouting from here a minute ago"

Flicking open the peephole she was met with a view of a tall tan muscled man, probably about twenty five or so. Smirking, she opened the door to him.

"Everything's fine, are you new here or something?"

"Actually yeah, moved in this morning" Seeing him up close, he reminded her scarily much of the Quileute wolf pack. Instead of just closing the door now as she normally would have done, she opened it wider and invited him in with her expression. He stepped in and she gestured for him to sit

"Come in, sit down, we probably ought to do some explaining if you're going to be our new neighbour"

"We?"

"Oh, sorry, AL GET IN HERE! Yeah, you probably ought to meet my roommate too" Al's figure appeared in the doorway a few seconds later, wrapped in a towel. She took one glance at the guy on the sofa, cursed loudly and then returned to her room.

"Right, I didn't catch your name" Bella started,

"It's Seth, what about you?"

"Scarlett"

"Nice to meet you" He said, in what she finally recognized as an American accent. The accent immediately took her back to the idea of him being part of the Quileute tribe.

"Sorry, I'm just going to stash this back in the kitchen, Al will be out in a second" Smiling to herself as she sauntered back to the kitchen she caught her reflection in the mirror. Staring back at her was the same person she had barely recognized for the last six years. Upon reaching nineteen, she'd grown again, some sort of late growth spurt, and was now closer to five eleven than five four. With the heels she'd left in the lounge, she was well over six foot three. The woman in the mirror had torn leather jeans that fit tightly to every part of her body; her work top was a few sizes too small and flashed several inches of flat stomach toned to a six pack. She had numerous piercings down each ear and her Celtic tattoo showed clearly on her arm. Having found out that her father's family actually came from England, she traced it to find they had belonged to an ancient Celtic tribe that passed stories in a similar way to the wolves back in Forks. She had tried to trace the tribe to see what was remaining but there were no traces since the 1800s, however, she found the emblem, an incredibly complex Celtic knot and it was now sat proudly on her arm. If she wasn't allowed to be a part of the mythical vampire race then she would damn well be part of her own family's tribe that had just as many stories wrapped around it. Around her neck and wrist she wore simple leather bands that were made of the same leather that Jake had given her as a cut off from something or other. Her hair was long but layered and choppy and a rich chocolate, her fringe was falling in her eyes slightly. Her eyes were blazing through the smoky eye shadow and her lips were bright red. Overall, she was nothing like the girl she had left back in Forks that rainy night so many years ago.

Upon reaching the kitchen, she didn't exactly feel inclined to put the drinks away having got them out and instead started shaking up a vodka espresso. As she was shaking, she sung 'blame it on the alcohol' under her breath. As she spun, dancing a little, she was suddenly shocked to see Seth behind her chuckling.

"Hey, not funny, just cos I do this for a living, doesn't mean I have to do it normally at home" He held up his hands in a sign of submission,

"I didn't say anything!"She just glared at him and he chuckled again, "So what are we having?"

"Well I never said I was offering you anything but vodka espresso"

"Wake me up then fuck me up baby!" Al shouted appearing in the doorway, finally somewhat dressed in denim cut off shorts and a tiny tight white t-shirt, looking as flawless as always. Her tall frame of six feet filled the doorway but her slim frame was entirely muscle and she could be really quite scary sometimes. For someone close to two and a half thousand years old she was looking pretty damn good. She almost regretted not letting the leeches in just so she could have seen their expression at her rooming with a child of the moon, the sort of creature that everyone thought was an uncontrollable monster.

Of course, the reputation was almost only built up because of the Volturi spreading rumours, to be fair werewolves aren't that uncontrollable, the only thing they don't have power over is their changing at the full moon, but they have full self control when changed. What makes them so dangerous, and as such scares the Volturi so much, is that vampires can't sense them at all, not their smell, heartbeat, presence, anything and their powers do not work on them. This means that in a fight they have every single advantage for not only are they faster, stronger, still have rapid healing if they get injured at all and they get that heightened senses thing too.

Anyway, Al had appeared in the door and Seth turned to look at her, Bella could tell that something was going as Al's eyes were glowing yellow, which tended to only happen when she was using her heightened senses. A crease formed on her forehead and Bella suddenly found herself outside of the room.

"What the hell Al?"

"Bells, I think he's a werewolf"

* * *

**I've just realised how i didn't leave any sort of explanation last chapter as to why I haven't posted in absolutely ages**

**Well, i don't have much of a reason, I know I took on way to many clubs this year, have been focusing majorly on school as it's GCSE year and i want to get to a good 6th form and whatever, I've also been having major panic attacks, several of which have nearly hospitalised me as i stopped breathing and everything, but that's starting to get better now, and then my other reason is that i lost all of my files when my computer died so i had to try and remember where everything was going **

**However, pretty much all better now and i'm going to start posting again :)**

**The only other thing i can say is thanks and i'm just going to say it once**

**review please?**


End file.
